Emelda Mazarani, the Chivhu woman who slaughtered her four minor children under the most heinous circumstances in 2020, has claimed that she committed the gruesome act out of love in order to protect her children.
Marazani, who is facing murder charges at the High Court, shocked the country in 2020 when she killed her four children by slitting their throats with a kitchen knife.
She then handed herself over to the police after she had ingested a poison and set the family house on fire.
While defending herself at the High Court, Marazani (pictured below) claimed that she killed her four children out of love.
She insisted that she wanted to protect her children from potential suffering and abuse by a stepmother.
“On the day of the tragedy, I first took rat poison in the form of pills and called my children to do the same and instructed them to sleep. I was out of breath, when I then figured there was a slight chance that my children would survive and decided to cut their throats with a knife,” Marazani said.
“I did this because I did not want my children to suffer and grow up miserably in my absence like I did,” she said.
Marazani referenced her own childhood to support her actions, saying she had suffered greatly after her parents separated.
The 30-year-old said she killed her children after adversely reacting to the news that her husband’s small house was pregnant with a baby boy. Marazani had four girls.
Marazani also claimed that she suffered in her marriage and accused her husband, Lameck Brande, of being abusive.
She alleged that her husband had changed and started ill-treating her and womanizing after their financial situation improved.
“We started from scratch, with practically nothing. We were both struggling when we got married, and we were happy. The problems started when we started amassing wealth. He became physically abusive and was involved in extramarital affairs with several women,” Marazani claimed.
The case is still ongoing before High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi.
However, in an interview with the national broadcaster ZBC, days after the killing, Emelda justified her actions saying that it was payback for her husband’s infidelity.
She also said she was jealous because her husband loved her children more than her. (iharare)
Zwnews
